Woman is finally jailed after FIVE false rape allegations against her ex-boyfriends in eight years
- Leanne Black, 32, falsely accused five partners of molesting her
- Escaped justice for eight years but has now been given two years in prison
- Judge tells her she has harmed genuine rape victims with her lies
By HUGO GYE
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Jailed: Leanne Black has made multiple false allegations of rape against a series of ex-boyfriends over the past eight years
A woman who repeatedly accused her ex-boyfriends of raping her was today jailed after escaping justice for nearly a decade.
Leanne Black made false rape claims against five different men over a period of eight years, but escaped justice until now.
The 32-year-old used the rape allegations to get revenge on her partners after arguing with them - but a judge accused her of harming genuine rape victims with her lies.
Black was sentenced to two years in prison at Newport Crown Court after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.
In one case, she told police that her ex had drugged and raped her, and in another she claimed that a boyfriend had kidnapped her before violently abusing her.
The innocent men could have faced up to five years in jail if they had been found guilty of raping her.
In the most recent case, the court heard, Black's boyfriend Kevin Crowley was arrested on suspicion of rape in March after he called police to their flat to report that she had thrown plates at him in their flat in Cwmbran, South Wales.
But when police arrived at the scene of the row, she invented an allegation against him, according to prosecutor David Wooler.
'When she was questioned by police she told hem her boyfriend had raped her while she slept at his flat,' he told the court.
'It was the most recent in a number of repeated false rape allegations against men since 2005.'
The first claim dated back to June 2005, while in July 2006 she said that her then-partner had raped her twice and also claimed to have been kidnapped.
In 2009 she made a third false rape allegation, and the next year invented a story about having been drugged by an attacker.
Judge William Gaskell told Black that her history of made-up rape claims had made it more difficult for genuine rape victims to be believed.
'Police have to take all allegations of rape very seriously,' he said. 'Women who make false allegations like you undermine the whole system and police investigations.
'It undermines the public's belief in the truth when allegations are truthfully made.'
Trial: Black was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty at Newport Crown Court, pictured
Gareth Driscoll, defending, said Black had entered an early guilty plea and had made a full and frank admission of the facts.
Mr Gaskell told Black she would serve half her two-year sentence before being released on licence.
Inspector Rory Waring, of Gwent Police, said after the hearing: 'Today's sentence should serve as a warning to anyone thinking of making false allegations of rape.
'As well as causing distress to innocent people accused of this terrible crime, cases like this distract officers from supporting real victims and prosecuting real offenders.
'Those who have suffered from genuine offences are also undermined.'
A spokesman for Rape Crisis (England and Wales) said: 'While stories like this are undoubtedly shocking and sad, it is important to remember that, contrary to popular perception, false allegations of rape are very rare.
'A Crown Prosecution Service report released in March this year estimated that they may make up as little as 0.6 per cent of all reports of rape to the police. At the same time, only around 15 per cent of the 85,000 women raped in England and Wales every year ever report to the police.
'The Rape Crisis movement has been providing specialist, independent support services to these women for 40 years and during that time they have consistently told us that a major factor in their reluctance to report is the fear of not being believed.'
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